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O P I N I O N
Top of mind
B eing “top of mind” with your clients and potential subconsultants can be hugely beneficial for your AEC firm. But what does it really mean for your business when you are “top of mind?” Getting there is one thing, but staying there is another. Figure it out and your firm will have the world in the palm of its hand.
I know a firm (I’ll call them XYZ Engineering), that has great technical capabilities. Each member of their staff is educated, trained, registered and certified, and experienced in his/her technical discipline(s), and all of them are also well-versed in the practices of good client service. In fact, this firm has turned client service into an art form. But much more important than any of these things, their project managers have been given the training to develop amazing project management skills. They know how to keep a project team focused on the technical work, how to keep subconsultants satisfied with their roles and their recognition, how to keep a project on schedule and on budget, and how to keep a client feeling like the happiest member of a successful team effort.
XYZ Engineering has a long and enviable history of performing the broadest variety of projects in such a manner that their clients sleep soundly at night, with no project-related worries to make them wake up screaming. In large part, I believe this is because their project managers do not see themselves as the most senior designers on the team. They understand that project management is about serving the team, the schedule, the budget, the client, and, ultimately, the firm. In fact, XYZ Engineering’s project management skills are so good that clients call on them even when they need a technical service they know XYZ Engineering does not provide!
Bernie Siben THE FAST LANE
See BERNIE SIBEN, page 10
THE ZWEIG LETTER December 3, 2018, ISSUE 1274
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